Valentine

I think its just a phase for Thai people.

Remember the rotiboy thing a few years ago?

Exactly the same thing happens in Western countries: Mrs Fields cookies was one shop that crowds waited in line for and some kind of super-rich cinnamon bun shop was another.

I only ever saw the cinnamon bun shop in Dubai but they were worth the wait. Yesterday I tried the new Mr Bun in Phuket, not bad at all & much lighter then your average doughnut. Had some KKs delivered to Phuket a couple of weeks ago courtesy of my twin girls who were returning from holiday in BKK. Said they waited in line for 3 hours but they & their friends really enjoyed them. A quick heat in the microwave back in Phuket, they were still better than the opposition.

Whoever is controlling the roads are not doing a very good job on maintenance. Bypass road all the way through to Central, with the section from Tesco to Central likely the heaviest traffic road in Phuket, is getting pretty bad with some mean pot holes appearing in amongst all the other surface cracks. Road connecting the two Chao Fas running from near Promphan to the school is disgraceful. I have no idea of the average lifespan of a "well constructed" road although it must depend on the daily vehicle numbers especially the heavy ones.

There does not appear to be any new roads under construction or planned. The one from the Honda showroom through to Kathu could be a great shortcut except for when there is a bottleneck by the university. Traffic flow through Phuket Town will see gridlock before long as all the roads are too narrow. The only bright spot was the road widening near Poonpol Plaza which took years to do. I realise land issues compound this problem such as the ludicrous situation with the mini tank farm on Wichit Road.

I had a good burger at Sizzler yesterday.

The sizzler burger is half-decent, but at 340baht I expect more than that.

Also Steveo's is fcking terrible these days. They went from making a good burger to a mediocre and now inedible one. Not even their good milk shakes can get me there anymore. I guess after the little incident with the thai woman stealing about 100k over a few months from there they have decided to save money on proper ingredients or something.

Green man's texas mega burger is also bad these days and The Club in nai harn, which made a good burger, shut down a while ago so where to get a proper burger in the in the chalong/kata/rawai area these days?!

It is good value if you are really hungry as can tuck into unlimited salads, soups, pasta, fruit & dessert as well as the burger which comes with fries, baked potato or rice. But you know that already, perhaps others don't. Have not been to Steveo's for a while but usually get a hot dog which is fairly safe. Will have to try out the one near the Boat Lagoon as I pass by there on occasion. Does anyone have an opinion, good or bad, on the burgers from Flintstones (Flints One)?

There is no direct bus service between Patong & anywhere except to Phuket Town. So if one wishes to use the bus service to Chalong have to change to another one in Phuket Town & then only during daylight hours. This has long been a point of contention hence the many tuk tuk posts.

So is the bus from Patong to Kamala, Surin, Cherntalay (and vice versa) etc that runs every hour not direct?

Does it do a circuit through & around Patong before proceeding or is it a bus that comes from Phuket Town & passes through the north end of Patong on its way to Kamala etc?

never been there but is there a local city bus between the 2 places ?

BK

There is a bus service that runs between Patong and Phuket Town via Central, open air travel and not very frequent but it's cheap day time travel - unsure about Patong/Chalong though.

Thanks , thats a REAL answer because like I said I was never there......

Cheers

BK

There is no direct bus service between Patong & anywhere except to Phuket Town. So if one wishes to use the bus service to Chalong have to change to another one in Phuket Town & then only during daylight hours. This has long been a point of contention hence the many tuk tuk posts.

>>I don't know why but it reminds me of the expensive homes in Saiyuan on the right hand side a couple of hundred metres up from Wichit

Not those cheesy pink houses that they couldn't sell as all were too small, so they decided to then paint them all the same colour in the hopes that someone would either rent or buy? There's what, about 1/2 metre between structures? Not sure expensive is the right word, but overpriced seems appropriate.

Must be the same ones, on the turn off to Atsumi. Yes overpriced is a better descriptive & quite a weird design. When they first went up they reminded me of Cairo.

only reason prices are so bad is people don't look around

http://www.baanthail...+villas/1001916

i went to see it, well worth the price. sea view from balcony. Seems like its built on western standard.. good materials and everything straight/done to perfection.

Also a few months ago i found about 1 rai for 1mil baht IN phuket town

looks like it was built by a 5 year old out of lego!

When I saw the billboard advertising those homes I thought they looked OK & a reasonable price. So I drove out there to have a look & immediately changed my mind. Rubbish homes in a rubbish location. I don't know why but it reminds me of the expensive homes in Saiyuan on the right hand side a couple of hundred metres up from Wichit. Good location but makes me think of Egyptian mud brick homes.

Uh-huh. another explosive potential to kill hundreds.

Doubtful.

From Propane101

Cylinder explosion videos can easily be found browsing the internet. A search on a video website for propane explosions will normally yield numerous results. Most all of these videos share a common theme, the propane cylinders are placed on a fire or source of extreme heat. Many of these propane cylinders explode after being shot at while on a fire (fire reduces the integrity of steel propane containers). Some videos are filmed by amateurs while others are staged and controlled explosions produced by professionals but the common catalyst for causing a propane cylinder explosion is fire and extreme heat.

You are more likely to suffer broken bones from a unsecured load of gas cylinders than get caught in an explosion.

A long time ago a tanker rolled over just outside Phuket. Many bystanders came to gawk. Someone lit a cigarette & about 100 people died in the resulting explosion.

where can u get that

At the Tiger shop which is on the corner (or it used to be) of Thepkasatri Rd & the road which connects back to Vachira/

where abouts are they?...i was desperate for a dual cab truck or fortuna as I had to take my GFs family up to Krabi. We ended up squeezing into a salooner or something similar

These are the facts, i do not rent cars or bikes i own my own.

The people i recommended for renting a bike from in Chalong are a expat,Thai couple.

They have approx 15 bikes all under 2 years old.

They also have 2 vios, 1 Yaris, 2 pickups and 1 fortuna type vehicle, most near new.

Everything is fully serviced and clean,they even have there own compressor to check the

tyre pressures before you leave.

Most of there vehicles are rented out although they did have a brand new duel cab pickup

available yesterday.

There are good directions on Peter's 1st post on this subject.

Lest we forget the many people who travel by public transport. They are denied the right to travel by bus between the beaches or around the beach resort areas. The people using this transport generally cannot afford tuk tuks & they suffer great inconvenience waiting for an irregular bus service & for example if they want to go from Patong to Karon they need to go to Phuket Town first. So the claim that it is mainly tourists who are affected by tuk tuks is plainly ludicrous.

The people who run the tuk tuks should not fear competition as there will always be a place for them as long as they control the numbers which operate at any given time. With an efficient & fair roster system in place they could be used as baht buses sometimes & go back in the rank at other times which should ensure a steady income stream for all.

I think one of the reasons they are built with everything in the front is that the land area is generally very small and they need space in the front for car parking. That then leaves room for a pool next to it.

Don't know what your budget is Peter, but I notice Welta (houseinphuketdotcom) has a nice place in Chalong with a pool in the back yard. 8.9 mill.

Thanks i will check it out, Welltas brother died recently and he was only 33 years old.

I will give her a call next week or when she is back in business

We looked at a new development recently and the houses were on 800SQM blocks

They were all built against the back fence leaving a huge front yard with swimming pools the size of a large bath

Unusual to see blocks at 800 sqm. But still built against the back fence, I guess Thais just have no concept of privacy the way westerners do.

I'm sure Weltas is still open. Ask to speak to Ben, a very helpful lady who organised a rental for me.

Take the soi on the East end of Home Pro in Chalong, go to the end of it

Farang developer

To be correct the pools are in the front of the home's living room but this area is partially enclosed & not directly facing the soi. It actually faces towards the side wall.

Safe braking distance is almost unheard of here. Motorists arguing over who was at fault in almost 100% of all accidents, unless they are lying dead or badly injured. Police should be able to respond almost anywhere within 15 minutes, mark the road, record the vehicles & get them moved off to the side of the road asap. A big inconvenience to 100s of road users & especially so if an emergency vehicle had a critical patient trying to get past. Once you are stuck in a jam on this road there is no alternative route & this highlights once again the lack of good road planning along with a dearth of secondary roads.

I thought one of the cheapest ones was at the entrance to the bus station but no idea on pricing these days as it was probably about 9 years ago when I was last there.

Aren't these normally 99 Baht or 129 Baht in other restaurants? Seems expensive for down Chalong way to me.

Being in Homepro Village the rent is probably fairly high. This place opened earlier in the year doing a Royal Thai buffet, I walked in had a look & walked straight back out. What they are doing now seems to be their first reincarnation although the food list sounds similar to what I saw. As the OP said it was only OK at Baht 299. Based on this I feel it will not succeed.

The whole business will just move elsewhere, and you'll get a new version of Soi Bangla in another part of town.

This is right, from what I have been told/understand they want to turn Bangla into a high end shopping experience, move current elsewhere, I think we are seeing the beginning of that plan.

The talk about moving all the bars from Bangla to another location has been going on for years but as suggested this looks like the start of the process.

Some of the excuses for justifying murder show a complete lack of maturity, rational thought, morals, the list goes on.

Just a couple of comments. Pebbledash? Do you mean sandwash as in sai lang? If so I do not recommend it for pools unless you do not mind redoing every few years.

I would use 12mm 'D' bar for the floor slab.

The use of blocks for the walls, which should be 14cm, is OK as long as you have rebar going up through the blocks & along the horizontal joins. However it does not allow the use of waterstop unless you use the lay down flat variety which swells & forms a seal upon contact with the water out of the concrete.

Before applying any finish to the pool whether it be sandwash or tiles make sure you apply a waterproof membrane such as Sika Top Seal 107 or its equivalent.

It does not cost that much more to buy an Australian made pump rather than a Chinese one & you will not regret it.

Hope this is helpful for you.

BTW an overflow pool does not necessarily have to be all the way around, it can be on one side or the end dropping down into a drain which goes into an enclosed tank. This gives a nice effect

It would be interesting to know just how many vehicles there are actually registered in Phuket. Surely not a great mind leap for any reporter to ask whilst talking with the man who has the numbers. Add to that a percentage for out of province vehicles then extrapolate the numbers to come up with a good approximation of Phuket's actual population which I reckon to be about one million.

It's in Thailand and there are Thai people there of course, but I'm interested in what 'Thainess' in particular will be lost by any such changes and why this might be something to lament?

'Upgrade' is also debatable. New grid on a sewer.

I read two articles in a publication we cannot mention here which is why I posted the topic to see what others thought. You should check them yourself particularly the one by the Aussie travel agent who makes some fairly astute observations.

Soi Sea Dragon is being refurbished, Baan Sukothai demolished to make way for an upscale retail centre, Ocean also appears to be having an upgrade. There will supposedly be more franchise outlets, less thatch roofs, less sleaze, supposedly, although many come here just for that. An Aussie travel agent laments Patong will go the way of Pattaya when it had a serious problem some years back & that Patong is losing it's Thainess. IMO Patong has been heading down this road for quite a while already.

I certainly agree Bangla could do without the sleazy touts but upgrading, modernizing should be done in a way that it retains characteristics unique to Thailand.

True Phuket,,, no have, dont know when have, come back 2 weeks,,,,,, that was 3 days ago

I just checked & they have already launched in BKK. Website shows the same pricing.

Just booked Nok Air for tomorrow one way for 2350 all in. Keep in mind Nok Air and Orient Thai use Don Muang and not Swampy.

Depends on where you are staying as it can be a better choice for saving on taxi fares.

Yesterday there were quite a few people buying iPhone 4s at the Apple outlet in Central, next to Watsons.

16GB at 20,650 with AIS package or 22,250 without.

32GB at 23,900 with AIS package or 26,000 without.

VAT has to be added to both prices & apparently they only have the 32GB model left at present.

Exact same pricing at the DTAC place downstairs Jungceylon. I didn't check availability of phones though.

Assume Telewiz (AIS) & DTAC in Big C will also be the same. Wonder what True is selling them for?

They all have good deals going on any given day although the vegetarian festival could be pushing prices up at present. Online bookings are generally the cheapest way to go. I have often found Thai to be cheaper than Nok Air, Air Asia has different pricing just about everyday, a couple of weeks ago my kids used One 2 Go (Orient Thai now, I think)as they were the cheapest on the day we booked.